The Facebook page for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows saw an average of 5000 new likes each day in the preceding week of the release. Before that, the average was around 800 likes per day. Currently the page has 380,000 members and the admins insist that the number will reach 50,000 b the end of next week. No doubt devoted fans of the series will ensure that.

The official twitter account for Harry Potter Films also got a boost in the number of followers. It currently stands at just short of 350,000. However the number is lower than the fan following of @Lord_Voldemort7, an account that poses as the Dark Lord from Harry Potter and posts sarcastic and caustic tweets! His account has more than 1.3 million followers! Isn’t it strange that Warner Bros with all the money and power could not get those many followers on the official Harry Potter twitter account?In any case both accounts saw a surge in interaction and followers during the past fortnight!

Harry Potter Fans have also been buying a lot of  merchandise for the nostalgia as the curtains are drawn on the movie series. This post on the top 10 Harry Potter gifts is absolutely wonderful and gives fans some brilliant choices including the Deathly Hallows symbol locket, the marauder’s map and Dumbledore’s wand!

Thankfully, unlike what the final movie posters claim “It all ends here” it actually doesn’t. with J.K. Rowling’s announcement of Pottermore, we certainly have more to look forward to in the wonderful world of Harry Potter!

Harry Potter might finally be getting around to entering the 21st century. The Scotsman newspaper reports that after years ignoring the format, JK Rowling is considering e-book versions of all seven installments of the series that made her name.

The newspaper quotes Liz Thomson, editor of publishing industry site BookBrunch, as suggesting that the rights may be worth £100m, going on to say that “Experts believe that move could revolutionize the world of electronic publishing, triggering rocket sales of e-book readers such as Kindle and the iPad.”

The same Scotsman story quotes another expert as likening the digital launch of Potter to the Beatles finally releasing their music on iTunes, and I think that’s a much more apt comparison, but not for the reasons intended: Sure, the Beatles’ digital music release brought lots of sales for the Beatles and a bump for iTunes, but it hardly revolutionized the industry, in part because the hardcore fans either already owned the material or had downloaded bootlegs.

Why should it be any different for Harry?

Apparently,  Emma Watson has ended her two-year relationship with financier Jay Barrymore.

Ex-couple Emma and Jay

And if her mates are to be believed, the 19-year-old has been spending time with Spanish musician and fellow student

Rafael Cebrian since the split. Do not forget that Emma is currently studying her college at Brown University in the USA. According  to the Daily Mail, the pair became close friends last November while Emma was still in a relationship with Jay, and since the split she has been heavily leaning on Rafael.

In related news, Emma Watson will be performing in a student-directed production of Anton Chehkov’s Three Sisters at Brown University, where she is a freshman. The event, which was announced on Facebook, has since been removed.

The play is being produced by the school’s Production Workshop, a non-profit student theater founded in 1960. Watson, with an ensemble cast of 13 other students, will perform six shows from March 11-15.

Unlike her other projects, this one won’t be bringing a sizable payday for Watson: Admission to the play is free.

In an interesting move Bollywood studios Shemaroo Entertainment, Rajshri Films and UltraHindi have tied up with Youtube to provide Standard and HQ streaming movies on the popular video sharing site.

Some of these movies include hits and classics like Sarkar, Andaz Apna Apna, Bawarchi, Amar Akbar Anthony and Hera Pheri.

Every movie is completely streamed in a single video, unlike normal youtube videos which are upto a maximum of 10 minutes.

Here’s the link to the Bollywood films on youtube.

The movies are also embeddable, for example you can watch the nice but underrated bollywood movie Sarkar right here:

Aamir has uploaded three videos on youtube showing his stay and interaction with the locals in Varanasi in a disguised avatar…Aamir appears as a lower middle class gentleman trying to find his mom’s native village. Watch him in the 3 videos below.

Aamir Khan in Varanasi Part 1


Aamir Khan in Varanasi Part 2

Aamir Khan in Varanasi Part 3

Aamir Khan in Varanasi Part 4

Aamir Khan in Varanasi Part 5

As you can see Aamir’s make up is brilliant and his tobacco stained teeth are a class apart. And the way he talks with the locals, like he is one of their own, simply endears him to all.

You can find out more about this contest and the various clues on this website: http://idiotsacademy.zapak.com/arg/index.php

Also read: 3 idiots may end Bollywood’s sour 2009

Update: Aamir has updated his facebook on status saying “Varanasi was most enriching.”

While quiet a few fans found the movie disappointing when it was released in the summer of 2009, a lot of fans still loved it. I have listed below direct links to retailers in US, UK and India from whom you can order the disc(s) online.

United States of America

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLU RAY from Amazon.com
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD or BLUE RAY from Half.com

United Kingdom

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY OR DVD from Amazon.co.uk
Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince BLU RAY or DVD from Play.com

India

Buy Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince BLU RAY or DVD from IndiaPlaza.in

Fans in other countries sorry, I did not get time to research stores from across the world, but the movie should be evailable in the most popular online shopping sites in your places.

Related links
Harry Potter and the Half blood prince was crap – a cynical review of the 6th Potter movie with an interactive discussion below.
Write great Harry Potter stories like J.K. Rowling – A best-selling author reveals the essential secrets to writing fantastic Harry Potter stories

3 idiots poster

Its been a sad year for the Hindi film industry as there have been virtually no blockbuster hits this year. In fact a majority of the films have either flopped or done average business. Of course, the quality of movies is largely to blame for that. Be it ‘Blue’ or ‘De Dhana Dhan‘, it seems the producers and directors are hell bent on insulting our intelligence. I have heard good reviews about ‘Paa’, I hope it really is a good movie and if so should churn out good moolah for ABCL.

Coming back to the point. 3 idiots – a movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani and featuring Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareen Kapoor in the lead roles is making waves in India, and rightly so.

The reasons for the excitement about this film is not too hard to grasp. Firsty, its directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who has a 100% success rate and is known to write strong scripts. Although 3 idiots is loosely based on the novel ‘5 Point Someone‘, the script is very different and has been written by Hirani with two of his associates.

Secondly, its got Aamir Khan aka Mr Perfectionist in it. Aamir is reknowned for being choosy about the scripts of movies he decides to do. And his instincts are nearly always right. Aamir has come a long way from QSQT days. I think his acting really matured from Sarfarosh onwards, and he has tried to improve his near perfect performances with every passing film. The fact that he does only one film a year or less makes the viewers eagerly await his films, and therefore he is the main trumpcard for the producer and the film.

Thirdly, the story looks fresh and realistic as we see from the trailers. College life in Hindi films has never been displayed in a real manner except by Rajkumar Hirani himself when he accurately depicted the going ons in a medical college in Munnabhai MBBS. Karan’s Johar’s college in Kuch Kuch Hota is too much of a good fantasy while the films of the early 90s depicted colleges as romance zones and nothing else. Engineering students will be particularly excited this time to see how their lot has been portrayed in Hirani’s latest.

Most people already know that Aamir Khan has a profile on facebook by the name of Pucca idiot. However he is unable to add any more friends (he already has 5000) so he has created a fan page by the name of Aamir Khan the Pucca Idiot. Join it if you want. Most people though are unaware that the film’s producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra is also on facebook and accepts friend requests from fans. Here’s the link to Mr Vinod Chopra’s facebook profile.

Don’t forget to check out the official 3 idiots teaser trailer.

Kunal: btw ..that indian comedian u
linked that dayu really sucks man
an article also came
in yesterday newpaper abt that f***ot
the noob makes fun of Indian being an indian himself n says some really lame shit about Indian culture man’

Me: He makes fun of racial stereotypes from every race
chinese, Indian, white
Africans
kissi ko nahi chodta (translation: he doesn’t leave out any race)

Kunal: Nopez he makes it specially for india.. read the whole article and anyways..his humor is lame n racist

Me: You get really pissed if he makes fun of Indians?

Kunal: yep
cause im an indian

Me: lol

Kunal: and his humor also sucks

Me: and u one of those Indians who cannot laugh at themsleves
his humour sucks for u but his shows went houseful in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalaore

Kunal: I dunno what that means..but his humor has some really shitty stuff about indian culture
I read in the article some things he said

Me: same goes for london, LA and toronto

Kunal: the one video u showed me was fine
but i read more abt him n it stinked
dude..look u an englander now..u dnt have nothing with india now..so u cant understand so just leave it..

Me: he has said worse stuff for england
you better watch his other videos before saying all this
articles can show the bias of a writer

Kunal: bhai i dnt care what he says abt england
if he says shit for india ..it lame man..
for any country or culture..
I’ll mail u the article if i find
he has said sm really lame stuff in past
which really is shit for any race

Me: he’s a comedian and he makes jokes of racial sterotypes..if u don get his humour then dont watch it

Kunal: I wont and ..no one shud, he shud be hanged by the balls

Gosh, you must be thinking that Kunal is an idiot. He’s not. He just tries his best to contradict me, and lately he’s been failing quite miserably!

Initially, I was offended by Russel Peters making fun of Indians, espeically that accent he mimics which I think very few Indians actually have. But as I saw his other shows I realised he makes fun of racial ‘stereotypes.’ So of course I can now easily place that accent. And  can also understand why he makes fun of Indians rather more than other races – simply because he can defend his position if someone calls him a racist.

‘Look here mate, I make fun of my own race. We have the funniest accent in world. So dont you dare call me racist.’

‘Look here Russel, if Kunal meets you, somedbody gonna get a hurt real bad!’

According to reports, Jackson suffered a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home in Los Angeles and was rushed to UCLA hospital. Apparently his breathing had stopped.

While the LA times inititally claimed that MJ was in coma, it later reported to have quoted doctors as saying that he is now dead. British television channel SKY news also confirmed that the star had died. But BBC refused to confirm whether Michael Jackson had died or not till it got any such intimation from his family or the doctors treating him.

So while the majority of the media now believes Jackson is dead, the BBC is creating hopes in the hearts of fans that all may not be lost, yet. However they are reporting that ‘other news organisatons’ have reported Jackson to have left his mortal coil.

MJ was given CPR and treated in the ambulance while on the way to hospital. Even as I write I’m listening to the BBC live, who say that crowds have started thronging the hospital and the star’s Beverly Hills mansion.

The BBC confirmed at 11:44pm BST that Michael Jackson is indeed dead. A great loss for the music industry.

Kingfisher girls

View the making of Kingfisher Calendar 2009 here: